Box Office: No Disguising it – Robots are Big Time

Charges of racist robots notwithstanding, Michael Bay blew up the box office in his usual manner — outrageously and excessively. Over a five-day span, Bay’s “Transformers” sequel took in a whopping $201.2 million according to studio estimates, just two million short of the $203.8 million record currently held by Christopher Nolan’s “The Dark Knight”, which did similarly lucrative numbers over a 5-day span. No surprise, then, that the robots in disguise left the week’s only studio picture opening opposite it, the Cameron Diaz chick flick “My Sister’s Keeper” in the dust. Of course, I’m sure the people who put out “Keeper” are perfectly thrilled with the film’s $12 million debut, given that it’s a moderately budgeted drama that wouldn’t have too far to go to turn a profit.

“Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen”, on the other hand, came in with a $200 estimated million dollar budget, and easily paid dividends in its first week. Besides the $201 in the States, the robot sequel also pulled in an impressive $181.6 million from overseas box office, putting its 5-day worldwide total at $363 million. Which goes to show you, foreigners dig fighting alien robots.

Other films opening this weekend saw the counter-programming “Keeper” and “Cheri” from Miramax. Also opening in limited release was Katheryn Bigelow’s Iraq-war set “The Hurt Locker”. The long-delayed war movie finally opened in a modest 76 theaters, bringing in $408,000 thousand from the screenings. I think it’s safe to say that, despite being critically acclaimed, the film hasn’t really been given much of a chance by Summit Entertainment, and seems to have been released on a limited basis purely to meet contractual obligations. My guess is that the film will now go quickly to DVD and cable. Too bad, too, as it seems to have been well-received by everyone who has seen it.